FOEP at the March and April Meetings 2018

FOEP’s Invited Session: Innovative Ideas for Engaging the Public
Room: LACC 408A , Tuesday, March 6, 2018

8:00am - 8:36am
E32.00001: TBD, Invited Speaker: Joseph J. Niemela

8:36am - 9:12am
E32.00002: Physics as a street art, Invited Speaker: Tatiana Erukhimova

Celebrating physics with the community — is this utopia or a mission of every university? There are more and more science festivals around the country, but how can we reach out to people who would never come to campus on their own accord? Can physics outreach become not only a service provided by an academic department to the public but also a unique learning opportunity for students?

This talk will discuss what it takes to build a successful physics outreach program, which includes everything from the annual Texas A&M Physics & Engineering Festival attended by thousands of people to shows and summer schools for K-12 students and teachers, physics demonstrations on downtown sidewalks, and of course Game Day Physics (we are in Texas). Perhaps the most important ingredient for success is to make every outreach project student-centered. As one example, teams of undergraduate students mentored by graduate students and faculty work throughout the school year on the design and fabrication of physics demonstrations. The same teams show these demos at the outreach events. The benefits for the students and the department are obvious. Students practice teamwork and obtain hands-on experience, learn how to communicate science effectively, and get to know graduate students and faculty. The department gets a lot of new demos to be used in regular classes. Last but not least, showing physics on the streets is a lot of fun!

9:12am - 9:48am
E32.0003: TBD, Invited Speaker: Samuel Sampere

9:48am - 10:24am
E32.0004: TBD, Invited Speaker: Jorge Cham

10:24am -11:00am
E32.0005: Laws of War and Fighting a Disease, Invited Speaker: Neil Johnson

The last place one might expect to observe order and robust patterns is among the horrors of human conflict. Indeed, the phrase `fog of war' has quite rightly been used throughout history to capture the chaos that is typically witnessed. However, in this talk I will share with you some insights from Physics concerning patterns that emerge in the timing and severity of violent events within human warfare. The underlying data are drawn from across geographical scales from municipalities up to entire continents, with great diversity in terms of terrain, underlying cause, socioeconomic and political setting, cultural and technological background. Despite these implicit heterogeneities, the patterns that emerge are remarkably robust. I argue that the ubiquity of these patterns reflects a common way in which humans fight each other, particularly in the asymmetric setting in which one weaker but more adaptable entity confronts a stronger but potentially more sluggish opponent. I propose a minimal generative model which reproduces these patterns while offering a physical explanation as to their cause. In addition, I show how simple ideas of kinetic theory are able to dispel some alarming claims that have been made concerning deaths in the Iraq War, and discuss the wider context of other struggles, including cyber-based attacks. I also argue that the lessons learned can help advance understanding of the immune system and its battles against dangerous diseases such as cancers.

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Double your exposure by giving an outreach talk in addition to your science talk!

The Forum for Outreach and Engaging the Public will have contributed talk sessions at the March and April meetings. Importantly, these talks do not count against you, so you can still submit a scientific presentation. We look forward to hearing about your work!

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FOEP Session F02: Public Outreach and Physics History: Exploring physics topics beyond the lab
Chair: Rebecca Thompson, American Physical Society
Room: LACC 150B, Tuesday, March 6, 2018

11:15am - 11:27am
F02.00001: Presenting the value of your research to the public
Shireen Adenwalla, Jocelyn Bosley, Leigh Smith, Paul Sokol

11:27am - 11:39am
F02.00002: University of Minnesota Physics Videos Outreach Program
E. Dahlberg, Production Staff

11:39am - 11:51am
F02.00003: Physics Wonder Girls Camp
Roberto Ramos

11:51am - 12:03pm
F02.00004: Using Marie Curie video production to inspire interest in STEM in MRSEC outreach
Daniel Steinberg, Christin Monroe, Sara Martinez, Jen Myronuk

12:03pm - 12:15pm
F02.00005: Quizics: A Dynamic Technique for Physics Outreach
Francisco Ayala Rodriguez, Rebecca Thompson, James Roche

12:15pm - 12:27pm
F02.00006: Lakota Cosmology Meets Particle Physics: An Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Megan Bowers Avina, Gregory Cajete, Agnes Chavez, Marcus Dorninger, Steven Goldfarb, Steven Tamayo, Shane Wood

12:27pm - 12:39pm
F02.00007: SPS Outreach: Beyond the SOCK
Zackary Noel

12:39pm - 12:51pm
F02.00008: Using Superheros in a Physics Communication Approach for the General Public
Barry Fitzgerald

12:51pm - 1:03pm
F02.00009: The Politics of Science
Eleanor Hook

1:03pm - 1:15pm
F02.00010: Quord: Music, Visualization, and Playing Quantum Mechanics
Aaron Grisez, Michael Seaman, Justin Dressel

1:15pm - 1:27pm
F02.00011: Visualizing the Physics of Nanotechnology Using 3D Animations
Maxwell Grossnickle, Nathaniel Gabor

1:27pm - 1:39pm
F02.00012: International Young Physicists’ Tournament in United States
Chrisy Xiyu Du, Andrei Klishin

1:39pm - 1:51pm
F02.00013: Physics Competition Startups: Lessons from Chile and United States
Andrei Klishin, Xiyu Du

1:51pm - 2:03pm
F02.00013: Do experiments in physics need to be reproducible?
Vitaly Pronskikh

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The Outreach Happy Hour/FOEP Business meeting will be Tuesday the 6th from 6-8, place TBD. We hope to see you there!

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A Staged Reading of the Play: Silent Sky
Wednesday, March 7
8:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Location TBD

Silent Sky is based on the true story of 19th-century astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt as she experiences a woman’s place in society during a time of immense scientific discoveries, when women’s ideas were dismissed until men claimed credit for them. When Henrietta Leavitt begins work at the Harvard Observatory in the early 1900s, she is not allowed to touch a telescope or express an original idea. Instead, she joins a group of women “computers,” charting the stars for a renowned astronomer who has no time for the women’s probing theories. As Henrietta, in her free time, attempts to measure the light and distance of stars, she must also take measure of her life on Earth, trying to balance her dedication to science with family obligations and the possibility of love.

The playwright Lauren Gunderson is from Atlanta. She received her BA in English/Creative Writing at Emory University, and her MFA in Dramatic Writing at NYU Tisch. She was named the most produced playwright in America by American Theatre Magazine in 2017 and was awarded the 2016 Lanford Wilson Award from the Dramatist Guild.

Performed by:
International City Theatre, Long Beach CA

Some of the play actors as well as a historian-scientist will be available for a talkback discussion after the play reading.

Produced by:
Brian Schwartz, CUNY and Smitha Vishveshwara, University of Illinois

Sponsored by:

• APS Forum on the History of Physics
• APS Forum on Outreach & Engaging the Public
• APS Forum on Physics & Society
• APS Committee on the Status of Women in Physics
• APS Division of Astrophysics

Pre-meeting Workshop: Finding Your Scientific Voice: Improving Your Presentation
Sunday, March 4
Two opportunities to attend: 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. or 1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

You’ve spent years designing, carrying out, and wrapping up your research. Now it’s time to communicate your results to your peers and the broader community!

The Forum for Outreach and Engaging the Public (FOEP) will host two workshops on improving communication skills of students and postdocs. Each 3 hour workshop will focus on how to improve the 10 minute talks for the meeting as well as give participants instruction on how to communicate with the lay public about their work.

Who Should Attend? This workshop is restricted to APS graduate students and postdocs.

Registration Fee: Graduate Students & Postdocs: $20

Registration Information

• Register when you register for the meeting
• Preregistration required

FOEP at the April Meeting 2018

For the April meeting we have (to be confirmed) Lucianne Walkowicz (Adler Planetarium and Library of Congress), Renee Horton (NASA), and Becky Thompson-Flagg (APS). The breadth of experience in engaging the public is spectacular!

There is also a FOEP/GPMFC session at April Meeting that is currently scheduled for Sunday at 1:30pm and titled "Low-Energy Precision Tests of the Standard Model"